Red Currant Chutney

Red currants, apple, shallots and lots of spices create a deliciously acid/sweet/spice chutney to serve with various meats or tofu or… Recipe below.

I LOVE RED CURRANTS. When I was a kid, my father always had currant bushes, and to this day I always make room for one red currant bush, even in our very small yard.

I don’t have a lot of experience cooking with currants because my favorite way to eat them is standing in the yard on a hot summer day, in my grubby gardening clothes and the ugliest hat in the world, picking the strings of ripe fruit off the plant and eating them on the spot. My second favorite way is to fill a bowl with fresh currants and eat them in the house. Bliss.

But this year, we had such a vast crop of currants that a new thought crossed my mind: hey… I should, I don’t know, cook something with these. But what? Interestingly, there are not a whole lot of recipes out there using red currants. There’s jelly, and then there’s… jelly. But, rumbling around, I ran across a couple of variations on chutneys, which inspired this.

A chutney is a condiment typically associated with cuisines of the Indian subcontinent, made of chopped fruits, vinegar, spices, and sugar cooked into a chunky spread. According to The Spruce Eats, although it originated in India, “chutney is famous worldwide, often transformed to suit local tastes. While most chutneys are on the spicy side, it’s easy to adjust the heat factor if you make it at home. Chutney is excellent with many types of meat, delicious as a spread or fruit dip, and adds a fantastic spice when used as an ingredient in recipes.”

If you don’t have a currant bush in your yard, try looking for currants at farmers markets in the late summer to early fall. You may also find them in some supermarkets—or fresh or frozen from online sources.

Our recipe is more liquid than most chutneys, which is fine. We’ve also used non-spicy spices, concentrating on big flavors, but without the heat. In the recipe, we offer an optional way to add some heat, if you like. It’s very nice on a simple grilled meat, like a pork chop or a chicken breast—the umami of the meat pairs wonderfully with the acid/sweet/spice of the chutney. It would also be nice on sautéed firm tofu, or try stirring a tablespoon of it into plain Greek yogurt, or blitzing it in the food processor with labneh or cream cheese to make a spread for toasted sourdough bread or crackers.

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Red Currant Chutney

Red currants, apple, shallots and lots of spices create a deliciously acid/sweet/spice chutney to serve with various meats or tofu or…

Servings 4 to 6

Ingredients

• 4 cups stemmed fresh currants
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons whole mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper or more
• 1 cup diced fresh apple (see Kitchen Notes)
• 1/2 cup shallot, minced
• salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or more (optional—see Kitchen Notes)

Instructions

• Remove the currants from their stems and put them in a large saucepan. Add the sugars, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, water and apple cider vinegar. Stir everything together then gently bring to a boil. Simmer gently about 10 to 12 minutes—the currants should start collapsing. Remove the pot from the heat. Taste (carefully!) to make sure the tart/sweet balance is right—you may want to add more sugar at this point. Let the cooked currants cool for about 15 or 20 minutes.
• Set a fine-mesh sieve over a large heatproof bowl. Ladle currants into the sieve and press them, catching the thick juice in the bowl. (I found the back of a big round wooden spoon worked best.) Really squish down on those currants—you want to get every drop of juice. Reserve the juices in the bowl and discard the solids (by which I mean, add them to your compost).
• In a deep skillet, heat the olive oil to medium. Add the mustard seeds and sauté quickly until the seeds start popping—about 90 seconds. Add some salt and the black pepper (and the optional cayenne pepper, if you'd like a little heat), and sauté another minute, then add the diced fresh shallot, apple and the reserved currant juice and give everything a good stir. Bring it to a simmer and cook about 10 more minutes, until the shallot and apple are cooked and the sauce has thickened nicely. If the chutney still seems too watery, simmer a few more minutes.
• Remove from heat, decant into a bowl or storage container, cover and refrigerate. The chutney should last about 10 days in the fridge—you can also freeze it for future you. We had some right away with pan-seared pork chops, and we froze the rest for use in the fall. I'm looking forward to trying it on turkey.

Kitchen Notes

Sourcing currants. If you don’t have a currant bush in your yard, try looking for currants at farmers markets in the late summer to early fall. You may also find them in some supermarkets—or fresh or frozen from online sources.

Pick your apple. Choose an apple that will hold its shape when cooked. We used Wild Twist, which we happened to have on hand. Fuji or Honeycrisp would be great too.

Want some heat? Sure! Add a quarter teaspoon, or more, of cayenne pepper, after sautéing the mustard seeds.